The Untitled Story of Growing Up
by It's Still a Secret
Summary: Yuiki Yaya: 20 Years old, working as an intern for a stage designer at a modelling studio. Souma Kukai: Upcoming footballer with too much time on his hands and is bored. Why not find a job somewhere? Why not ask a certain best friend? What could possibly happen working with your best friend? The story of growing up. How do they deal with it all? (rating M cause swearing in Ch4)
1. Chapter 1

"You wouldn't believe what a brat she was being, and that's coming from me!"

Yuiki Yaya, a second year university student, was currently describing one of the models she was forced to deal with on a day to day basis, courtesy of her work placement program organised by her school.

"You should have heard her yap on_ 'Hey you' _this_, 'Hey you' _that_, 'Where's my sparkling water imported from the great Himalayan mountains?' _this_, 'It has health benefits' _that_, 'You look like a sack of potatoes' _" She scoffed.

"Then she went on about her perfect complexion and how _wonderful _and _amazing_ she is!"

Now Yuiki Yaya was a kind and sweet girl ever since she was a youngling. She always played peacemaker and never picked fights. But, if there was one thing she couldn't stand, it would be pretentious, high-strung, arrogant, pompous human beings who looked down on others they deemed lesser.

"And _then_ she had the _nerve_ to look me up and down and-and… giggle! She _giggled_ at me!"

"Soo…" Alas! There was another voice.

Soo… she was mocking me Kukai! Mocking me with that stupidly gorgeous face of hers; and guess what she said? Come on! Guess!"

Souma Kukai, upcoming fresh-out-of-university newbie footballer and long-time best friend of the girl opposite him. "What? What did she say?"

"'_You could use some pointers'_ Oh the nerve! What did she even mean by that? Just because I'm not 5'6 and don't have long, elegant, wavy blonde hair-"

"This girl sounds like a babe"

"Kukai!"

"What? She does!"

She huffed, pouting cute plump lips whilst stabbing at the deliciously moist-looking caramel chocolate cake situated on the plate in front of her. "You know, it couldn't hurt to be on my side once in a while."

"Now, now Yaya" he gave her one of his gorgeous grins "Where's the fun in that?"

Sighing, she took a generous bite.

"Besides" he decided he wasn't done speaking yet, "You're 20 now! You don't need me to baby you anymore. You're a second year university student and you're working as an intern stage designer at a modelling studio. No doubt you're going to run into some snobby models. Really, what did you expect? 'Sides I'm sure all the yummy male models make up for it all" He wiggled his eyebrows for the added effect.

"Actually they're worse. Though, I'm kind of used to cocky, beautiful males. I'm friends with you after all"

"Well, I am quite delicious aren't I?"

She laughed heartily. Kukai knew he was extremely attractive and who was she to deny it? It was not like her saying otherwise would deflate the indestructible balloon that is his ego.

As if to confirm it, the group of girls that had just entered the café squealed in fangirly-ness at the site of him (and not to be overdramatic, but one of the girls fainted). Kukai being Kukai stayed oblivious to it all, whilst Yaya just giggled. Finishing off the last of her cake she took a swig of her hot-now cool- chocolate milk and stood up to leave. Kukai who had cleared his blueberry muffin and coffee about long before made to leave after her, but after paying of course - they weren't ones to dine and dash after all.

* * *

After breakfast with Kukai, she had left for her temporary job at the Anzu Imperial modelling studio. Kukai had been kind enough to give her a ride.

Work was uneventful as there had been no pesky, blonde-haired, mountain water-loving model that day and so Yaya hadn't had an unwanted teeth reduction scheduled that day. Overall, it had been quite a successful day and she left for home.

Yaya, being the mature 20 year old she currently is, had moved out of her parents' home. She was a uni student now! She didn't need to be taken care of! Well … to some degree. Yaya still spent at least one night in her old room or shared a delightful homey breakfast with her parents and her now 8 year old brother, Tsubasa, (Oh how they grow up so fast!) each week.

But moving on, yes! She lived on her own!

As soon as she hit 18 and joined university, she asked her parents for a place of her own. Ecstatic at her willingness to grow up her parents flew at the opportunity to aid her in her journey to womanhood. Hence, her wish was granted. They rented out an apartment for her close to said university, and let's be glad they had enough money to fund it all.

Yaya, being an aspiring interior designer with a dream to one day design the world's greatest candy store, had no problem spending her parents money furnishing her new home to her own tastes.

Walls were painted vanilla white with pale pastel brown accents swirling and twirling like a slice of marble cake; in an organised disarray. A richer brown came in the guise of sofas with bright pinks, light yellows and large, creamy whites sprinkled on its surface. A decent TV was layered on the wall, nothing too grand; her parents weren't loaded after all. A coffee table was positioned in the space between her sofas and TV, small knick-knacks and – yeap you guessed it –a enormous bowl of her favourite sweets perched on the glass and metal.

Two doors were connected to the living room, the first being the portal leading to the outside world and the other her kitchen (however this door was always open for easy access to her beloveds).

It was an ordinary kitchen: pots and pans, forks and knives, cups and plates, fridge and stove. Yeap, just an ordinary kitchen – save for the fact she kept cakes and brownies in her fridge rather than the generic fruits and vegetables and REAL FOOD.

But this is Yaya we're talking about. It's to be expected.

A hallway led her living room to the guest bathroom and to her own sleeping quarters. The walls in her room this time were cotton candy pink, white polka dots of different sizes floated about on the walls like dollops of whip-cream. Cute and girly – just like her. A single bed and a white desk lived in the corner of her room. A white dresser stood next to the door leading to her personal bathroom and a vanity mirror sat across to her dresser. A pale orange carpet slept in the middle of the room and a large, cherry red beanbag on top. Her curtains too were the same pale orange. Fancy that.

Walking into her bedroom Yaya went to clean herself up before she slept the night away, ready for tomorrow's events.

* * *

_**Hi, hi!  
Just an introduction! My name is… well it's a secret cause you know, don't want anyone stalking me or anything ;)**_

_**(Kidding, don't hurt me, please!)**_

_**Anyway this is just a very introductory, introduction! Its purpose was to give a baaaasic idea of the setting like how old the characters are and what's their status and stuff (like Yaya is a student and Kukai is a graduate and yadiyadiya)**_

_**Sorry if it's kinda dry. It's just the beginning so there's not much in it! I hope it made you smile even just a little though :D !**_

_**Hope to see you next chapter! **_

_**Until then! R&R please \_OTL that's me bowing and begging at your feet. Have mercy!**_

_**It's Still a Secret**_


	2. Chapter 2

"Yaya! Ooh Yaya, darling! Where are you?"

It was late afternoon in the basement of Anzu Imperial and it workers were sketching out and planning out different themed sets for an upcoming shoot. Yaya was currently in the next room collecting some props.

"One second!" came the cry of a far off voice. Soft crashes and rushed scuffling could be heard.

"Yes, Yuu-tan? How may I be of service?" The voice was much, _much, _louder this time as it sounded sweetly. She must've been close this 'Yuu-tan' deduced.

"Yaya, be a doll would you and go and fetch something really important for me?" This man was Nikaidou Yuu (or Yuu-tan as Yaya liked to call him). He was a renowned interior designer and labelled as Japans sexiest man of the year. (Funny coming from a man who, merely moments ago, was calling his underling pet names like _darling _and _doll, _and _t_hough one tended to question his sexuality he was actually taken by fine young woman who may or may not appear at some point in this story)

He turned towards Yaya once she had entered the modelling hall, her footsteps giving her away. She dumped the platoon of props in her arms as well as a list, she noted she still had to find a way to get the heavier props like the fake cherry blossom trees out of the room somehow. Looking at Yuu-tans beaming smile, she'd have to put it aside for now.

Yaya would have appreciated the sight of his smile before had it not been for her mind to ponder on the appearance of deathly pale woman who stood behind him. The said woman's eyes stung red as her lips quivered with every intention and determination to stop the tears that threatened to spill.

"Um… Of course, Yuu-tan. Just tell me what and where."

Her eyes were on a constant repeat and flickered from her mentor/employer to the woman behind him. Hold up, at a closer look, was she not the props runner?

Nikaidou Yuu, at this point stiffly upright, roughly snatched a pieve of paper from the woman's – w identified as the props runner – hand and passed it over into Yaya's hand, his body slacking slightly in its erect position as if the electricity that was circuiting his body had left, leaving him relieved. He surrounded her small hands with his own, as if protecting the hands that carried his own life.

"Now Yaya, listen up. This is veeeeeery, _veeeeeeeery _importants, understand? This paper holds and address. Go to this place and enter the building. Go to the receptionist and ask for a package. Use my name. They'll understand exactly what to do. As soon as they hand it over return straight here at once. As soon as possible, get it?"

She gave a firm nod in all seriousness. She had a mission to complete and she was damn well prepared for battle.

"Sir, yes Sir! I'll have you the package ASAP!"

Satisfied he pushed her on her way saying, "Good! Now go little Yaya! Go!" He pointed dramatically to the elevator that would be the beginning of her mission.

Playing along she ran out of the room in a sprint, but unfortunately not before spotting Yuu-tan turning back toward Runner. Yaya noticed his features darken intensely, a malicious glare etched onto his face that radiated vibe so malevolently Yaya's body shivered. It was summer. It was 32 degrees outside.

Needless to say it was the last Yaya saw of her.

As the elevator doors closed shut she heard the racking of sobs.

Damn he could be scary.

* * *

'_Faster… faster… faster…'_

She looks at the time: 9:27. PM.

'_Oh God no.'_

'_Oh poop-oh poopy-poop-poop! Oh poopy-shitnicks!'_

So the day wasn't turning out as she had expected, and she was beginning to slightly lose her patience.

Just slightly.

"I'm sorry Miss Yuiki-san but we have just sent someone with the package to Sanjo Productions, if you head over there it should be ready for you and-"

"DO NOT- I repeat- DO NOT speak so kindly to me Missus. I have just come from Sanjo production waiting for a package that should have already been there. But tell me miss, was it?"

"U-um… no?"

"Do you know why that is so?"

"Yes -san. The office was having diffi-"

"Because Ms..." A pause "Ms. Kawasho-san it was held up by _this_ very post office."

Okay, maybe a little bit more than slightly

"Now YOU expect me to go back and pick it up? I have a life too you know! This isn't even part of my job description! Yaya was meant to go out today with her friends you know but Yaya's stuck running around town chasing after some stupid package and Yaya doesn't even know what in it or why it's _so damn_ important. Yaya just wants to go have fun with her friends"

Okay, so she was more upset than she let on.

"Miss! Please don't cry. I'll call our delivery man and ask him to send it over to where it needs to be. Free of charge! Please don't cry!"

She looked up with large doe eyes glistening with tears. "R-really?"

"Of course Miss. If you would just give me the adr-" (Man, did Yaya like to interrupt others)

"Anzu Imperial Studio! You can find the address on our website, please and thank you!"

Or perhaps she wasn't.

She walks out the door finally free- yet the only thing she was free of was any traces of tears. As if… it wasn't real?

She's good.

The post office receptionist was dumbfounded.

As soon as Yaya got out she took out her phone. 8 miss calls displayed on the screen.

Amu  
Amu  
Rima  
Tadase  
Amu  
Amu  
Kukai  
Kukai

None from her boss? How important was the package really if he hadn't even bothered to call? She huffed. Though her tears were fake, it hadn't meant she wasn't the least bit upset. Trust me, she was pissed inside, and trust the woman Yaya stormed past and stole the taxi that the said woman hauled up, and trust the taxi driver whose door was slammed in front of a poor woman who was initially meant to be his customer.

"Drive." She gave her address and let him be.

Her phone began to ring and her best friends face flashed on her screen.

"I know, I know. I'm late! I'm not happy about it too. I just got caught up doing chores at the studio okaaay? I'm on my way home to change and I'll take a bus there. Yees, I'm okay Amu-chii. No, I don't need someone to pick me up… Amu! Don't ask Kukai! Yes, I know he has a car! I know it'd be quicker… It doesn't matter how late I arrive! It's the weekend; I bet we'll stay there until like 3 in the morning! Amu-chiii waiii- Kukai! NO! You don't need to pick me uuup, I'm a big girl noooow. "

I feel sorry for the driver who has to listen to all of this. Poor guy.

"Nothing's going to happen Kukaai, I can fend for myself! Butbutbutbutbut- fine. You owe me ice-cream then. What you complaining about! It makes total sense! You pick me up and so you have to buy me ice-cream!"

She grinned ear to ear. Where the sense was in her logic I have no clue, and quite frankly neither did Kukai. It was totally and win-win-win for Yaya. Kukai has to spend petrol for Yaya and buy her ice-cream, while Yaya? Yaya was being driven instead of paying more money on transport, and she got _free_ ice-cream. Oh how life wasn't fair.

She giggled. Evil child.

She decided to hang up before Kukai could change her mind.

_Very_ evil child.

"Pick me up at 11:00 _sweetie," _she tried to sound seductive as she said this. Whether it worked, who knows? With a wink the other person on the line could _totally_ see she bid him goodbye with a _mwuah!_

It was 9:52, she had one hour and eight minutes to get home, shower, brush her teeth, get dressed and be picked up.

"Gramps! Faster, please and thank you!" Her spirit was much brighter than before. He cranked up the accelerator.

"As you wish ma'am." The sooner she got out his car, the better. He couldn't take anymore. Luckily for him, he made it out alive.

Within the hour and 8 minutes Yaya got home, took a quick shower and dressed up for her night out. Her hair was pulled into a high pony tail held together with a thin neon pink ribbon and lolled down slightly toward the right framing the side of her face. It was messy, but messy can be sexy.

11:01 the bell rang and opened.

"Late! You owe me another ice-cream~!"

"Damn it!" Bent over hand on knees to support his weight and inhaling and exhaling viciously stood a Kukai. "Even drove through a red light to get here before 11:00! Let me tell you, the other drivers were not happy"

"Your fault; shouldn't have made the bet then. Especially since you suck at being on time, now you owe me two ice-creams."

"You know, eating all that ice-creams gonna make you fat one day, and you won't be able to dress up the way you do now. Speaking of which…*whistle*"

His watchful eyes made her look down at her own self all the way to her dark pink boots. Black short stopping mid-tight and a form fitting leather blouse that flared out from waist down in ruffles covered her body. The front side of her shirt stopped at normal length but the tail of they dress-blouse continued down almost covering her tushy. In case it got cold, Yaya wore black thigh-high socks.

"You look good, Yaya, even if you don't have a chest."

"Kukaiii, that's mean. I could be secretly very insecure about it you know and saying it every time I dress nice could really hurt my feeling and you'd never know!"

"Yeah, yeah. Least I said you looked good. Now compliment me back."

She giggled again, something Kukai easily elicited out of her. "You don't look as bad as you did the day before, congratulations."

"That's not very nice!"

"I haven't had the best of day sweetie, so let's go get us some fun, ne Kukai? Lock my door will ya? Thanks!"

She skipped down the hall, hair flicking side to side with each jump.

"Yes, dearest!"

Oh Kukai always knew how to make Yaya feel better. She loved being able to call each other pet names without the feelings attached, it just made her happy somehow.

"Kukai-sweetie! We better hurry! We're going to be late!"

She heard the echos of his laugh down the hallway and heard him jogging to catch up.

"Yaya, you were already late 2 hours ago."

"All the more need to hurry then!" She jumped onto his back with a _'mush!' _and he ran towards his car with a '_bark!'_

He really knew how to cheer her up.

* * *

With more red-light driving and honking and skidding the two made it to the bar. Yaya entered the club, the familiar wave of blasting music enchanting her longing ears and she gave a content sigh. Any place where she could dance was heaven in her book.

"Yaya! Kukai! Over here!" A girl stood on a table waving them over. Needless to say, she was quite inebriated.

"Amuuu!" Yaya tackled her into a hug rubbing her cheek against her friends. "Amu work was horrible today! Comfort me!" Yaya felt the patting of her head.

"How about some _juice_ hmm?" When Yaya saw pink eyebrows wiggling suggestively she knew her friend was more gone than she had originally suspected. Instead she took the drink and tipped it into Amu's open mouth.

"No thanks. I'm here for the dancing! Where's Rima and Nagi and Tadase and stuff?"

With a face more flushed than it was a second ago and voice slightly more noticeably slurred she cross pointed. One arm pointed towards the packed bar, the other towards the bathroom. Judging from pass experiences, the boys were collecting drinks and Rima was in the bathroom; hiding. From boys.

Yaya knew that once Rima was in there it would be near impossible to get her out. After all those years with the guardians she still had not any progressive steps toward social-hood. If being socially awkward was an addiction and Rima was on a 12 steps programme, she'd still be in the denial stage.

Either way, like the good friends they are, they chose to let the blonde beauty stay in her shell that is the bathroom.

"Care to dance Amu?"  
"Hell yeah."

For one who grew up with the art of dancing for so long, it had really been too long. As soon as Yaya hit high school her ballet life had steadily went downhill and more so in university, lost in a series of studying and mocks and finals . Though her school know did accommodate ballet it was never to the extent she experienced back in elementary and quite frankly she missed it. She took out her dance cravings onto the club dance floor and she did not hold back.

It was like she was high on ecstasy or something. She paid no attention to the people around her as she was off in her own little world. Yaya's dancing was beautiful. Magnificent and graceful, as expected of a ballerina. It is said that each and every person has this one particular dance move that they will always fall onto when in a club on the dance floor. Some raise their arm and swing their head side to side. Some like to be a little more self-conscious and tap their foot, drink in their hand (so called a 'dance move') and just went too over the top with their booty spasms and the generic ankle grabbing and thrusting their leg back and forth. (God did they look ridiculous. They call that dancing?) Being in a club meant that Yaya didn't go on a ballet Rambo, however, much of her dancing was ballet inspired, such is that her special club dance move was a series of twirls and with the network of her blouse damn was she a sight to see. The ruffles around her waist spread around her as her arms rose into a twirl. As she slowed her raised arms would slowly fall travelling down her body in seductive whispers. She caught the eyes of many. She would've caught my eye too if I were there. Impossible I know, but just emphasising a point.

Many attempted to approach her at this point, most boys, some girls, but Yaya paid no mind to any. All that matter to her was her, the dance floor and missed feeling of sweet dancing upon her skin, produced by her rigorous routines. Dancing was her only partner here.

It was only when she heard the contact of wood on wood and shouting that she was forcefully released from her welcomed enrapture. Only because the voice sounded so damn familiar.

A strong familiar cackling sounded over blasting music. It was a miracle it could be heard.

"MY PEOPLE! YOUR KING IS SPEAKING!" With a voice as loud as this was, it was no wonder that this man caught the attention of everyone.

"A BEFFITING PARTY YOU HAVE THROWN FOR YOUR BELOVED KING! I AM MOST PLEASED. BUT WHERE IS MY QUEEN?! A KING MUST HAVE A QUEEN!"

What fool was spouting such nonsense? It was getting in the way of Yaya's dancing. On second thought… blonde hair man standing on a bar raging on about being a King, not doubts about it. Tadase; drunk Tadase. Which meant the brown hair man trying to pull Tadase off the counter must be Kukai

"JESTER, YOU FOOL! YOU DARE GET IN THE WAY OF YOUR KING?! I SHALL HAVE YOU THROWN IN THE DUNGEON FOR THIS TREACHERY!"

Kukai using his athletic strength to his advantage roughly pulled Tadase down by his white collared dress shirt. This always happened when Tadase was a little bit too much under the influence of alcohol and quite frankly he could be a real pain. He was already banned from entering 2 bars because of his kingly tantrums and quite frankly Yaya did want to have to be kicked out of another. She might as well see if she can help any, though being away from the dance floor ate at her. As she approached the bar she saw Kukai successfully got him off the bar counters successfully avoiding an oncoming onslaught from the burly buff bouncers that were now eyeing Tadase. Though being away from the bar, or Tadase's _'throne'_ did nothing to ease the rampage _King Tadase _was on.

"YOU! My purple-haired mistress! You shall be my bride!"

"Tadase! It's me, Nagehiko!"

Yaya full on laughed at this. It was not the first time tonight Nagehiko was mistaken as a woman. But from one of his best friends who also wanted to get hitched with him in the same night. It was too good.

"WE SHALL WED TONIGHT! HEAR-YE YOUR KING HAS CHOSEN HIS BR-" he couldn't finish his sentence as he slumped onto the floor never again to speak another word that night. Thank goodness.

Majority of the witnesses say he just wasted and finally he passed out. Some say he tripped and hit his head so hard he passed out. Others say that the beauty of his bride was so great he fainted from the sight of 'her', and a few, very few others, swore they saw much differently to all the suggestions claimed before. These others claim that said bride had hit the King-hungry boy in the back of the head, a empty bottle in hand. But that couldn't have been it… could it? I wouldn't be surprised.

It didn't matter, the group was glad it was over.

As the night wore on the group was gradually falling in number. It was around one in the morning and the club raged on. After the Tadase's little stunt and his passing out they had dragged his body towards their seats. He was currently under the table, they didn't see any need to place him on the cushioned seats. He hasn't moved since.

Nagehiko had then gone to get Rima out of the bathroom. She was in there for almost three hours and they were starting to get worried. Nagehiko had no troubles getting in considering everyone thought he was female anyway. After that he had convinced her to dance with him using the excuse that if she didn't dance with him other guys would surely prey on her.

Amu was off dancing with some guy and Yaya? Yaya was giving Kukai company who was on Tadase duty. As he was designated driver he wouldn't be drinking much anyway. Yaya who felt sorry for him decided to make sure he wouldn't get bored. That's what best friends do after all.

"4 o clock, blonde hair, pink hair band"

"Eh, 5. She a bit too out there from what I see"

"Okay then, 10:30 the one next to the blonde, small girl. The one with the long hair"

"10, of course. I'm telling Rima you called her short."

"I'm telling Nagi you think he's hot and that you're actually secretly gay for him."

"You're mean Yaya."

This confused Yaya, he seemed a lot more down that he had earlier. Usually he'd think of another comeback and it would keep going on and on until one or the other gave up. But it usually lasted longer than this one had.

"You okay?" Yaya looked at him curiously.

"Mmmmm" He leaned his head against the chair. "Yeah, just thinking about work."

"Work? You mean football? Why did you find out you actually suck?"

He flicked her forehead and she yelped rubbing at the sore spot.

"_Actually, _I'm still amazing. But it's off season and my manager says I'm not big enough _yet _to receive any actual sponsorships or talk shows and stuff and so I got nothing to do until football season starts up again. I dunno what I'm gonna do for money. I spent it all on my car!"

"Well, least your car looks good?" She tried to get him to look on the bright side and though he chuckled his smile didn't fully reach his eyes.

Yaya thought back to her own job and thought of the day she had today, running around town chasing after the mystery package that she herself never actually got to see for herself. She wondered if it reached the studio. She'd have to see tomorrow. She'd also have to finish moving the props to the main room where the shoot was going to take place. Oh God! How was she going to get the tree out of the room! It weighted like 4 times more than Yaya even if it was fake! She'd need help but everyone was off doing their own jobs and she doubted she'd see the props manager tomorrow…

And then the imaginary light bulb in her head went off.

"Kukai! I got it!"

"Mmmm?" His head still leaning against the chair tilted towards her with confusion-glazed eyes.

"You scratch my back I scratch yours!"

"What? Right now? What does that have anything to do with me and money?"

"Not literally dumb-dumb! I need help at work with some heavy lifting you see, and you need help getting money right?"

"Uhuh."

"Sooo-"

"So…?"

"SO! You work as my 'intern' or assistant or whatever and then booom! I get my work done and you get money! Easy-peasy!"

"Yaya, I'm not sure your employers are going to agree with that…"

"Why not? Yuu-tan loves me! And even if you don't get paid I do, so if you don't earn anything we can split my salary! I'm in it more for experience rather than money anyway."

"Can I get all the money then?"

"Don't push your luck, sweetie."

Kukai chuckled, and once again there was a sweet ring to it. Seems like he cheered up somewhat.

"95% then?"

"10%"

"90%?"

"10%"

"65%?"

"10%"

"No? Then 100%!"

"You just lowered it to 0.0000000001%"

"Aww… I thought you loved me."

"50% and throw in an ice-cream its yours."

"Deal! And it's official, three ice-creams. I can see your tummy rolls already."

A smack later

"Then let dance away the fat!"

"Couldn't agree more"

And with that the once again left to the dance floor joining up with Rima and Nagi and Amu who had moved on from the guy preferring her friends. Tadase was left unwatched on the floor, but that's alright, he wasn't going anywhere.

* * *

_**Hi, hi!**_

_**Phew, another chapter done!  
This one was slightly longer than the other and I hope it provided some form of entertainment for you!  
For when I mentioned the two dance moves earlier about the butt spasm thing and the ankle thing so if I offended anyone by calling it ridiculous. I actually don't mind the ankle one if used for comical purposes! Though I'm still not sure about the butt spasm move xD**_

_**Anyway, what I would like to ask of you is for some constructive criticism if you may!**_

_**Tell me what you want to see more of or what you want to see less of, any I'll do my best to incorporate your criticism in my next chapter!**_

_**If you enjoyed my story or have ways I can improve pleeeeeeeeease tell me. People who write stories (I'm not going to call myself and author because I am not one) do realllllly appreciate them and it makes one really happy and warm feeling like when I hug my pillow!**_

_**Hope to see you next chapter and please R&R!**_

_**It's Still a Secret**_


	3. Chapter 3

So ladies and gentlemen, todays chapter takes place one month after the night at the club and luckily enough Kukai's and Yaya's plan had pulled through – which is obvious considering the story is kind of based around this.

However, that isn't to say there were no bumps in the road as we all know there is always one or more. First was the matter of payment. The company had refused to give the non-official worker a wage of his own considering he wasn't formally invited to the company and so Yaya ended up having to split hers with Kukai, lucky for them Nikaidou Yuu decided to give Yaya a bit extra. But, staying on the topic of Nikaidou Yuu, _he _was the biggest problem. Though Nikaidou Yuu was very much fond of dear Yaya, the same could not be said with the Souma boy. It was the exact opposite. Nikaidou Yuu had such a strong dislike for our male protagonist that he had made it his life mission to screwing with Kukai, and nothing pleased him more or relieved as much stress as that did. (Which might I add is not worrisome at all)

Now, seeing as Kukai is a footballer, I think the best way to describe Kukai's role in the company through an analogy; a football team. So in every football team you have the Coach, in a company you could say s/he is the CEO or the president, and you have the coach assistant AKA vice-president. Next is the captain who looks after the team and give the calls. He is like the supervisor. Then there are the mid-fielders, strikers, defenders and goal keeper, which are like the different departments you find in businesses like the finance sector or the HR sector. Then you have the referee, medics, fans, spectators, commentators, hotdog sellers, TV broadcasters, people who take care of the pitch and lastly at the veeeeery end, the water boy; and Kukai? Kukai was that water boy, which is crazy bearing in mind he actually is a footballer and a very good one at that! Alas, he was stuck with all the menial jobs - you know the shitty jobs that people push onto this one unsuspecting guy in order to get out it of themselves? Yeah that one.

If you ask him what he has done thus far, he could give you a full blown reports worth of jobs, ranging from the obvious coffee runs to cleaning the toilets (even the janitors had more power than him – no offence , we all love you and appreciate your hard work). That's not all folks, he also had some pretty strange jobs earlier that month. If I recall right, he had to clean the buildings gutters about 2 weeks back. He had sworn the leaves, mud and whatever other gunk and fungi that had grown in there had come alive and created some sort of stink monster creature thing, he swore he heard something groan. Kukai was also pretty sure that this gutter had never been cleaned before and that it was in the job description of even the janitor to clean this up, so he wondered just why it was he did. Nevertheless a job is a job and he had to do it anyway, so with wells full of strong chemicals and his mighty scrubber brush (the ones with the long shaft so you don't actually have to have your hand near anything) he fought with the colossal stink monster for hours. It was a long and dangerous battle but in the end victory was Kukai's - Kukai the drain-slayer! A fitting title for a warrior such as he!

But for today, he set out on his next quest: 'The Search for the Holy Mop!' Surely a fun-filled, wonderful journey was ahead of him this fine morning - notice the sarcasm in my typing.

Despite all the sarcasm and tedious work, Kukai was just thankful for his one source of salvation, and that is the fact that Yaya was more of a help today rather than the usual hindrance. Though she had refused to help with the gutter spring cleaning, she had not subject Kukai to being her target practice for when Yaya and Nikaidou would have there next spit ball tournament. That also meant no Yaya scoring a whopping 50 points for getting one in his ear and no Nikaidou Yuu cheering particularly loud at her doing so, so indeed it was a good day. It was all due to Nikaidou's absence that for once there was peace in the workplace for Kukai, and it is because of his absence that Yaya was not persuading into bulling him. Kukai is 22 years old, and not once in all those years had Kukai ever, _ever_, fallen victim to a spit ball shower. Sure he was the victimiser sometimes, but never the victim! When he got home today, he would make sure to personally call each one of them up and apologise, maybe send them a fruit basket too. He never regretted shooting those spit ball now as he ever did before, even if they were his team mates and it was just friendly teasing.

But yes! It was still a good day! Nikaidou's absence can easily be explained as he was called in for an emergency meeting by the board, leaving Yaya only with the instruction to help out Kukai in the meantime. He never felt such a strong feeling for the devil spawn besides hate than he did now, he could kiss him! (But he won't because I'll cry) Kukai had always being waiting for a day such as this, and he would enjoy the extra help while it lasted.

But…

"Kukai… I can't reach" it didn't help much when the so called helper wasn't really helpful. They were in the storage room collecting the supplies needed to clean the hall - so things like mop and soapy water, wax, floor polish, window cleaner, Mr. Magic window cleaning solution and stuff like that – and Kukai while getting most of the supplies had asked Yaya to fetch the bottle of Mr. Magic on one of the shelves. But true to her word, she couldn't reach. Yaya was on her tippy-toes reaching for the Mr. Magic to clean the windows with, but she just could reach! Kukai forgot that the last time he had cleaned the windows he had put it on one of the higher shelves because that was just the comfortable height for him being tall and all. The noises she made were just too cute though, they were soft and strained and the slight over-stretching of her body made her give a quick release of breathe, much like a soft, soft moan but not sexual in any way. Her mouth was slightly ajar as her tongue stuck very slightly out in concentration, and damn if Kukai didn't find this sight adorable, I don't know what would.

He chuckled and took half a second to walk over to the other side of the store room – which was no difficult task since the store room was such a tight space – and easily reached over her flailing arms and not-moans moans, encasing her small stature with his much broader one. Her sweet scent wafted and tickled his nose. It was a bit too sweet, but it wasn't as strong as some of the women working here used, and he would know as every time they passed by him they made sure to purposely get extremely close and sometimes _accidently_ bump into him, asking if he was alright all for a chance to get to talk to him. When Yaya tried to tip toe higher more of the scent of strawberry cream hair interrupted his thoughts and pulled him back to earth. He felt slightly warm; likely extra body heat. Ignoring it, he grabs the bottle before saying he's got it.

She looks up at him then and though she's still trapped, she's not at all uncomfortable and she smiles in the only way she knows how; bright and whole-hearted. The room seems a little lighter, that was how strong her radiance was when her lips were curled prettily and her eyes closed in synch. Kukai wonders if someone mistook the heater for the air conditioning or if it was just him feeling a bit warmer again. But it doesn't matter anymore as she ducks underneath his still stretched out arms and pops up behind him, makes her way to the hall pushing along the cart full of supplies and begins singing the same "Clean Up" song that Kukai recalls Yaya's mother singing whenever he came over to play. She always sang it before lunch time to… you know, get us to clean up, and back in those days kids being gullible and all it actually made cleaning up more fun. Though, sing it to us now and there was no chance in hell it was going to happen; unless of course you're Yaya.

"Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. "  
"Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share"

That's how the song went, repeating it several times and that's exactly how Yaya sang it.

"Everybody now!" She exclaims expecting Kukai to sing along. When he doesn't she happily tells him to sing with her but he replies back with a dismissal once again. She turns to her ultimate persuasion tactic: operation number one: Puffed up cheeks. She stops pushing the cart and faces Kukai fully arms straightened out tensely with fists and she leans forwards her face all puffy and looking incredibly squishy. He's tempted to just slap his hand over her face and pop it like a balloon but doesn't, instead opting for voicing its ineffectiveness.

"Not gonna work this tiiime, sweetie~" and here we go with the pet names again. When Yaya finally realised that tactic number one was in fact not working at all she moved on to tactic two which was the: 'there-is-no-tactic-so-I-will-just-improvise' tactic. She whispers vengeful things and giggles maniacally. She has the cart full of supplies and she was going to take advantage of this. She grabs the container of wax and accidentally on purpose 'spills' it on the floor before her, being wary to be inconspicuous and avoid slipping. Just as planned – no, sorry – by _accident _the mouse ran unknowingly right into the lions den.

"Holy Shi- Oof. YAYA!"

"Ke-ke-ke" she tries to give him her best evil laugh and Fouettes to face him and gloat. What she had forgotten was that Kukai had Mr. Magic. She had left just after he grabbed it, failing at that time to take it from him, thus leaving him not completely defenseless. With his own weapon he readies his arm to fire.

BUT what Kukai didn't know, was that the lid of the Mr. Magic was not screwed on tightly and so when his finger pulled the trigger no solution projected to its aimed target. Instead it dribbled down uselessly. The only one who got wet that day was Kukai as they watched it drip down onto his outstretched body. He cursed once more and palmed his face, which would be alright had he not had Mr. Magic solution on his hand.

"Oh give me a break would ya?!"

Oh Yaya loved it when he was an idiot. Though she so hard not to laugh at his misfortune he only keeping digging himself a bigger hole. When he gave up and decided to just fall back and lie on the floor he got wax in his hair and another string of swear words spewed out his mouth. She couldn't take it no more, she needed release! She burst like a balloon but instead of helium her laughs shot out. He only pouted.

When he had finally come up with a retort…

"Ahem." It was rough and emotionless. Both Kukai and Yaya whipped their head – Kukai as well as he could in his position on the floor – only to face so called Yuu-tan/ Devil spawn himself. (Obviously Kukai and Nikaidou Yuu still did not have the best relationship) Though Kukai usually would pay no heed to Devil-spawn and Devil-spawn to Kukai, what worried him what the fact that the seriousness of Devil-spawns being was directed completely on Yaya. Kukai's presence wasn't even acknowledged!

Yaya was given a look and in seconds the cheer on Yaya's face was gone. Not one trace of laughter. Nikaidou Yuu was too serious for comfort, not at all like the usual, childish, over-doting self he usual displays to Yaya. When he began to walk away Yaya immediately followed like a scolded puppy asking for forgiveness, leaving Kukai cold, wet and _really_ confused. Fun time was obviously over and Kukai supposed he better clean up the floor they had messed up. He started with the puddle of wax.

"Shit…"

He was worried for Yaya. Nikaidou had just gotten out of an emergency meeting and those in every case could not be good. Nikaidou would've already been prissy after exiting his meeting and then finding Yaya and him slacking off and doing the _exact_ opposite as to what they should've been doing, cleaning, probably would've cause Nikaidou's to explode. Could Yaya handle that? Nevertheless, our male protagonist deduced that the best course of action now would be to complete the job and to do it well. Maybe if he did so, any punishment or torture that was lined up for him may be reduced to a slight degree. Too bad it was too late for Yaya, nothing he could do for her; a great friend is he not?

So for the rest of the time he mopped and waxed and polished the floors and sprayed and wiped the windows. He had actually forgotten to retighten the spray bottle's cap so he managed to make a mess of the floor _again. _Really, sometimes his idiocy knew no bounds and he felt utterly foolish. He mopped the puddle before focusing back on the windows. Just as he was finishing up on the last one his name was called out down the hall and the pitter patter of rushed footsteps became increasing louder like the notes in a crescendo. For those of you who don't know, that went the note get louder and louder and louder (don't worry if you don't know, I wouldn't have too If my friend wasn't a piano player.)

Before he could turn Yaya jumped onto his back, squealing incessantly into his ears; a piggy back ride and concert of squeals? What was next?

"Oh my Gee- Oh my Gee-Oh my Gee! Kukaaaiiiii!" why did he have to ask that? "I can't believe it! Oh my gosh! I'm hyper-ventilating! I think I'm gonna faint… What should I do? I'm so happy Kukai! It's finally my time!"

Apparently Kukai had worried for nothing. It turned out that Nikaidou would be leaving for business in Hokkaido for the week. One of the big name brands that Anzu worked with requested for some of Anzu top models to model their new winter collection. They also wanted a natural set instead of artificial snow and the only place where they could find snow in the middle of the middle of spring was high up in the mountains of Hokkaido. It was Nikaidou Yuu's job to oversee the shoot and make sure all went smoothly. The only problem for him was the fact he had a project back here as well that he and his team had been working on for a quite a while. The shoot was set to take place here in the studio in six days, the day before he gets back. The fact the board pulled him away from his own project just to baby sit someone else's just because they were incapable goats did not at all please him. He did not look too kindly to anyone who got in the way of his work or nuisances in the work place. Where Yaya came into this you ask? Well, Kukai though the same thing when she had told him about what was going on. In Nikaidou stead, it would be Yaya's turn to oversee things here. Yaya was the only one right now he trusted to get thing and she proved herself a month ago when the package what delivered the day he asked for, he got his dinner that night, though it was cold – nothing a little microwave can't fix. He had sorted beforehand the designs of the shoot and organised what was needed and when it was needed in advance. He gave Yaya a rundown of the brand she was going to be working with and the models too. They were bringing in their own models and so all the needed from Anzu was their expertise of the set. He gave a list to Yaya notifying all the props that were ordered and the dates and times when they would arrive. The set had to be ready one day before the actual shoot and if it wasn't he would skin her alive and feed her to the gutter monster outside, (you could tell he was in work mode right now) and he assured her he would know if it wasn't. Yaya's homework was to study the designs and the schedule for everything would arrive. He was going to leave tonight so Yaya's job would begin effective tomorrow. There was a lot riding on her shoulders but she was excited and ready to go. She told Yuu-tan she wouldn't let him down and he gave her wry smile and a pat on her head. I suppose he was still a bit worried.

That day the sets team, and Kukai, were sent home earlier than usual allowing time for Nikaidou Yuu to prepare for his flight and the new supervisor Yuiki Yaya to prepare herself for tomorrows challenge.

As always Kukai drove her home but the difference this time was that Yaya had not said a word the whole drive. He wondered if she was getting cold feet but when he glanced briefly to check up on her while driving and smiled. She was engrossed in the papers the devil-spawn had given, trying to soak up each and every word and number on the pieces of paper. He knew Yaya never like reading or paperwork even as a Guardian, so when he saw how determined she was and concentrated he thought that maybe she was beginning to grow up. Maybe this new chapter in her life would bring her one step out of childhood and into womanhood - but not too much cause then she wouldn't be Yaya.

When he stopped outside her apartment she didn't move. I don't think she even realised the car had halted.

"Yaya." He heard her 'hmmm' in acknowledgment but both she and him knew she didn't actually hear anything he said, just that a sound was made. So, he place took the pieces of paper in her hand careful not to give her a paper cut before calling her name.

Her reaction was violent and Kukai had never, I repeat never, seen her so upset and frantic over pieces of paper, candy or wrapping paper sure, but not documents and information. She hit him square on his shoulder as he pretended it actually hurt and yelped. She snatched up her papers calling him an idiot before grabbing her bag and thrusting the car door open.

"Dumb-dumb face!"

She slammed the door and this time Kukai really did flinch, but only at the sound. He knew she meant no harm and he confirmed it when she stood outside face pressed against the glass of the side window make funny faces at him. It was supposed to be insulting, but really… who would be? When she stormed inside he drove off laughing.

_So maybe she had matured that much over the years…_

It was the thought that went on in Kukai's mind and he smiled. Yaya would be Yaya. He promised would support her with all he got this week.

* * *

Kukai thiiiis! Kukai thaaat!

Kukai-Kukai-Kukai-Kukai!

My God, his name had been said so many times these past four days even he was starting to get sick of the sound of his own name!

Every singly fiber of Kukai's being regretted ever promising to support her this week. The God up there in heaven must've heard him and told Yaya because Kukai has never done as much work as he had done over these past four days than he had done in all his year in school! Even his sports thesis didn't require as much work as Yaya requested from him! The first day of Yaya's reign was alright but 3 whole days running on five hours of sleep and buckets of coffee was pushing him to the edge. It wasn't that Yaya was annoying or anything but Kukai had found out more about Yaya over this past week that he had done so in all of his playdates and elementary school years combined.

Yaya was a control freak! I'm not talking about the spoiled 'I want this and I want it now' kind of control freak, but she had to know exactly was going on and what everyone was doing and where they were going if they were leaving the room. Oh here's one right now.

"And where do you think you're going, Kazusa-tan?" Kukai could see the irritation coming off her in waves.

"Um-um Yuiki-san! I- I just thought I coul-"

"What? Take a break? Go get some snacks from cafeteria?" Kazusa-tan was one of the males in charge of constructing the foundation of the set, whether is be building a stage or replacing flooring in accordance to designs. He was quite young but older than both Yaya and Kukai, about… 25 years old? He was quite burly and muscular which helped intimidate those younger than him even some a bit above his age, but not Yaya. Yaya had him on a podium slapping his fins and barking like a tamed seal. He viciously shook his head at Yaya's assumptions looking to explain himself.

"I-I JUST WANTED TO TAKE A LEAK MA'AM!" he stands up straight, trying not to shake. He was bursting.

"IF I'M NOT TAKING A LEAK THEN NEITHER CAN YOU! DO YOUR JOB!" it was a completely outrageous condition and Kukai felt sorry for the older man but Kukai laughed anyway. Kazusa-san look crestfallen and he really did look like he was going to burst. Kukai didn't want to have to clean up after the man if it happened to be so he couldn't hold it in. Kukai was not a nursery teacher. He got off from the chair he had been standing on and stopped adjusting the lighting fixtures, moving over to the raging beast that was their supervisor. Just like the night before he place his hand on her shoulder – seeing as there was no papers to grab – to grab her attention.

"What? Oh Kukai – what's up? I'm kind of busy."

"Yaya, I think we all just need a break, we've been going at this for hours. Everything is already in place. It's just the glass trees we're waiting for now. No one's actually doing any work. We're all just finding ways to keep ourselves busy so you don't bite us to death. You know there's nothing more we can do. I've been playing with the light fixture 20 times. There's absolutely nothing more we can do without the trees."

Though Yaya looked annoyed she looked even more exhausted. She sighed in frustration and knocked her head onto his chest.

"I know… I just want things to be perfect… ya know? I don't wanna mess this up. I'm so worried Kukai"

"Yaya… the set looks great."

And it really did. They were building something of a sophisticated fairy tale wonderland. The group they were going working with was a new high end clothes brand marketed towards young women. It was a niche brand focused on a whimsical yet still classy style of clothing. A perfect mixture between the outrageous clothes you see on a runway and your everyday practical wear, and was what the theme of the set portrayed exactly.

The whole set was dimmed into darkness, exempting the very thin beams of white light, no thicker than the width or one or two pencils, that created many small circlets of white on the floor. It was meant to resemble sunlight piercing through cracks between trees like in a forest. Besides the many white strips was a much larger form of anti-darkness. It was a much softer, less artificial light, and that's because it was wholly natural. Today, Yaya requested every one stay a little later than usual, not because she wanted to torture them, but mainly because she wanted to see how the set look when it was bathed in the moons own glow. The good thing about this set was that there was a window which had allowed for times like these, and it was really what made the set. The skylight was place exactly in the middle of the wonderland forest where a glass table seemingly sprouted from the grounds, translucent vines spiral around the bark of the table. There were three chairs, one either side of the table, though tilted in the direction where the photographer would stand, and one in between the space created by the other two, though this one faced away from the camera. Glass ornate tea cups and china decorated the table and made to seem as if they were being used though no one was actually there to use them. The dinning set was surrounded by long carefully crafted columns, also made of glass, and poured inwards to create a roof. Though the roof was incomplete and had a star-shaped opening as to allow the moonlight in. The glass gazebo was intricate and no sort of beautiful. If you were to look at it, you too would be mesmerised at its physique.

What tied in the whole scene was the silver, cobalt tufts of grass. It looked dark, but where the beams of light shined on it, it becomes an enchanting sea of precious silver, glittering in several places at every different angle and tilt of the eye. Kazusa-san and the rest of his team had done a brilliant job and the white cobbled footpath blended in with the grass beautifully as to not displease the eyes, but not too much where it would go unnoticed. It truly was a beautiful set. Yaya could not agree more and finally Yaya let some of the stress go. Though the set was tree-less , they would arrive tomorrow morning, leaving the team with the whole day to play around with where what tree would go.

She apologized to Kazusa for her inconsideration and to everyone else in the room. None could fault her. They a lot of pressure was on her shoulders and they knew of wrath she would face if everything was not perfect. No one wanted to be on Nikaidou Yuu's bad side. Though the week was tough, they respected the girl. She was young but she knows what she wants, and though she's harsh she knows her stuff and knows how to get things done. She was pretty damn good at what she was doing, they had to give her that. Surely if someone else had been left to supervise it would have gone quite as well as this had. They were all proud, especially Kukai.

He looked down at her, his arms still wrapped around her, holding her up in case she collapsed. Her breathes were evening out and he could tell she was halfway to candy land. He announced everyone was free to go, Kazusa was the first one out, while everyone else left at their own pace. When everyone had gone he kept one hand around Yaya, freeing the other and using it grab the underside of her knees hauling her up. He placed her temporarily on the set chair, careful not to break or move anything before making his way around the studio closing up all the lights and the other tasks he made to do before leaving the studio. Before going back to pick up Yaya, he grabbed her ring keys, making sure that the one that their messy haired superior gave to Yaya was there and then pocketed it. He shouldered the bag before picking up his sleeping best friend once again in the same way.

Her head lolled to the side a tapped his chest, giving him a good view of her face. Damn her eye bags were bad. Kukai knew he hadn't been getting much sleep, what with all of Yaya's demand, but he never realised that Yaya had just as much sleep as him; probably less. He would drive slower tonight so he didn't accidently wake her. He locked with slight difficulty, but he managed. Placing Yaya in the passenger seat and strapping her in a like a three year old, he drove off to her apartment. Kukai had to blink to many times just to wake himself. He could feel the fatigue hitting him quickly which is why lucky for him rush hour had passed, meaning there weren't many cars on the road so Kukai didn't have to worry so much about making emergency stops or crashing into other people. The drive wasn't all that long but it felt like it was, so when Kukai pulled up inside the parking he was relieved. Keys still in pocket, bag on shoulder and Yaya in arms he nudged the elevator button with his elbow and entered, doing the same to get to the third floor. When he managed to finally get them inside he kept stumbling and Yaya was beginning to get quite heavy, something impossible for the young woman, but still he accidently hits her head (not that hard but still) on her bedroom door and he tried to elbow the door knob down.

"_Shit…"_

She groans and her eye tense and clench. Though it didn't really hurt, the shock of it exaggerated the throbbing of her head. Though she is awake and Kukai knows it she can't bring herself to open her eyes. It's just too hard for her the poor girl. He mummers his apologies and open the door, successful and without damaging Yaya's brains this time and enters. Though he's dropped her several times he hasn't actually ever been in Yaya's room. He always wondered what it looked like, but he tried not to stall as Yaya started to voice her whines for her bed – sides, he could see the room too well in the dark anyway.

"Here we go." He whispers as he pulls at her blanket and places her in the bed. She worms insides and moans (once again in a non-sexual way) and she's enveloped deeper and deeper in her comforter. Kukai tugs it over her shoulder and finally Yaya sighs with content for the first time in a long while, rolling around so the comforter covered her like a burrito. How deliciously cute.

Kukai runs his hand and further mussing up his locks and smile.

"Goodnight Yaya…" he strokes her head once and Yaya makes a sleepy noise. He takes it as his queue to leave but as he reaches the door he faintly hear her voice calling him. When he turned, he found the burrito rolled so that Yaya's face could be seen by him and she had managed to actually open her eyes slightly; brown meets green.

"Thank you for today…" She only just managed to say before she once again drifted off to candy land. Kukai was gonna give her the thumbs up and one of his grins to say it was okay, but at this point it would've just been wasted efforts, though he gratitude and the smile on her face as he left was enough to give him the energy to force himself home. He didn't even make it to his bed by the time he got there, it was too far so he settled himself on the couch. It took no more than a minute to black out.

* * *

9 o'clock and Kukai was speeding down the roads in his car.

90 km/h … 100 km/h … 110 km/h … 120 km/h

He tried to go faster but the incessant beeping of his unwilling car told him otherwise. He was going way past the speed limit, and if he had gone any faster the cops would be onto him, so he kept it at its current pace.

He was so screwed. He just knew Yaya was going to kill him when he got to the studio. When he had gotten home, nothing was on his mind except sleep, and in doing so he had forgotten to put on his alarm. It was only when Tadase had called him and asked if he was busy had Kukai realised what time it was. He cut off whatever Tadase was saying and apologised saying he'd call later. No other miss calls, that was good, though there was a text. Kukai was freaking out bad. He was meant to pick up Yaya and bring her to work today! Oh God was she ever going to kill him. He opens the unread text and he has never felt more relieved in his life, apparently Yaya didn't want to disturb him after last night as so she decided to go by bus. Her house was pretty close to the studio anyway, Kukai's on the other hand… was a thirty minute drive… it was 8:50 at that time… he was meant to be at work by 8:00… He didn't have time to shower, and by the time he got to work he thought he'd be lucky if he ever got the chance to shower again.

How could he be so stupid! Today was the final day of preparation! Everyone was asked to come in early for the trees! They have to get it done by today and who knows how long it'd take. They needed all hand on deck especially since the trees were expected to weigh a tonne and they needed strong arms to move the heavy but extremely fragile frames. They were glass too you know. Yaya would hate him for sure, even though she thanked him yesterday… her gratitude are always such a rare spectacle, so much that Kukai feared never hearing them again. He got to get there and quick. Ah! He could see it! Anzu Imperial! Oh thank the Lord! He speeds up and at 9:05 he barges in and runs down to the studio where the sets at. He reduced travel time from 30 minutes to half the time – hopefully there's some merit to that. As soon as he gets through the doors he's startled by the sudden pressure surround his hips, and the sound of racking sobs scares him all the more. Strawberry cream… Yaya?

His sense of smell doesn't fail him and he begins to feel the shirt he kind of threw on soak through – he wasn't even sure if it was clean, he kind took it from a pile on his bed.

"Yaya… what wro-" he can't finish his sentence as he looks around the room. The trees arrived at the appropriate time it seems, however not at all in the state it needed to be. Some had cracks, some were chipped, some were even missing branches. The whole team was there, he was the last to arrive but that was hardly on his mind. Everyone was shocked, blank looks plastered on each and everyone's face. None one had a clue as to what to do.

As soon as Yaya had signed for the delivery, the movers left. Everyone was bustling, excited to see glass ornate trees for the first time, but when they opened the first one everyone was stunned, they were beyond beautiful, something so refined and ethereal, they were truly the perfect pieces to finish off the set. Everyone was hands on deck, opening the boxes, but none of them were like the first. It just kept getting worse and worse. Furious couldn't even begin to describe it. Yaya had called the moving company and she was not kind. The rest of the team flinched several times at her death threats but it all amounted to nothing… there was nothing the moving company could do. What were they going to do now…

Everyone had half a mind to annihilate the cause of their troubles. They wanted to lynch the movers but where would that get them? Only themselves being lynched by their own superior, Nikaidou Yuu. Everyone was at a loss for words, especially Yaya. She sat on the floor distraught, she didn't know what to do. So she sat there… and waited. For what? She didn't know, she just waited.

Kazusa-san and a few of the other members of the team tried to comfort the poor girl, but nothing they did elicited any response from her. She just sat there like an empty shell, playing with the piece of chipped glass on the floor. No one made anymore movements. Just statues, torn, flawed and silent like the trees. That was until heavy footsteps echoed down the halls. It was the only know that provoked any action from the girl, and when she moved so did everyone else. But it was not a happy moment, as the tears began their freefall. Her mouth contorted and her body shook and she forced herself up as best as she could, almost stumbling and falling onto the glass before. But a brown hair young man had already entered the room and she once again threw herself forward towards him. All movement stopped again and brought them to their current situation.

Kukai pulled her in closer, eyes glues to one particular would-be tree. That one had been completely shattered.

* * *

_**And this is where things get real. A little fluff and a little gruff.  
Please R&R – and thank you to Heart-Shaped Quill and Muhi-pyon! I really appreciate it! 3  
Hope everyone enjoyed!**_

_**It's Still A Secret**_


	4. Chapter 4

Things weren't looking so hot. Almost hour had passed and still no one had manage to muster enough strength to do anything about their current dilemma. The only strength that they did manage to assemble was the strength to find a place to sit to drown in depression - hardly what they needed right now and hardly something that was going to save their screwed asses. Yet, standing up for hours on end was not going to help much either, so I suppose the energy saved not standing up could be useful is said preserved energy is used to produce some sort of idea that would salvage their sticky situation.

But really, what they could do was limited. Their moral was at an all-time low. Though Nikaidou's new intern had only been there no longer than four months everyone had come to adore the cheerful young woman. She was one of the people who were kind to everyone and one where her playful attitude really lightened the hearts of the people surrounding her. You could not help but laugh with the girl, though the only probable exception to this could be Miss. Props Runner from chapter 2 who still had yet to be seen since that day a month ago. Other than her, everyone loved Yaya, and they had become very dependent on her to keep everyone motivated and happy. It was also very helpful that she had this same effect on their superior. Everyone had noticed Nikaidou was somewhat less of a prick and had noticed he was not running after their buttocks nearly as frequent than when Yaya was not here. So she had become something like their coffee – they found they could not run or do their work without her merriment, more so when she was in a state such as now.

Though I did in fact mention that everyone had found the strength to find seats no more than a paragraph ago, our heroine herself hadn't even accomplished that. The only thing she succeeded to do was cling onto the only thing (or person rather) that kept her grounded. This so called thing had also been the one to bring her over to the far side of the studio, giving her some privacy while in her weak state, and this thing, called Kukai, kept her on his lap, rocking her slowly - though with every minute that passed by, his legs were become more weary and Yaya was starting to become proportionately heavier. Nonetheless, he'd say it was worth it as with just five minutes of the back and forth rocking motions her sobs had died down considerably. Kukai had to smile at that even with the situation at hand.

'_She really is just like a baby…'_

Just as things were starting to cool down, Yaya was thrown back into the fire. Keiko Amanda was one of the prettier woman here Kukai noticed. She was a half-er; half Japanese and half European – hence Amanda. When Kukai had first arrived at Anzu he had tried to flirt with the older woman and once he had found out she worked closely with Nikaidou he stopped all attempts, fearing castration. You never know what excuse Nikaidou could use in order to dismember Kukai. I still don't understand why he dislikes Kukai so much. (Funny I'm the one writing this story. But then again, maybe I do know why Nikaidou hates Kukai and it is you who does not know.) Nevertheless, he just did, and so Kukai would not risk his 'mini-self' by flirting with one of Nikaidou's personal designer team members. You see, despite Nikaidou Yuu being an artistic genius as everyone claims he is, as the saying goes 'two heads better than one, and a whole team just takes the cake' (Okay not exaaactly like that, but it is for the purpose of this story), and Keiko Amanda, was one of those heads, and rightly so - she knew her stuff. Now you may be wondering, _'If she is such a great designer, then why does she not supervise instead of Yaya!'_, well my friends, the answer to that is not for now._  
_

She stopped, phone in hand, and spoke.

"Yuiki-san…"

Amanda eyes gave Kukai a quick glance before shifting it back to Yaya. Her violet eyes held an emotion that perfectly reflected what Kukai was feeling at that current moment; panic.

Kukai knew straight up just who was on the other end of that phone. He kept hearing word _'shit' _being replayed in his mind.

You could tell that Amanda was worried for the girl and that she _really_ didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. But really, what help do those feelings of sympathy do Yaya? Unless pity and worry magically reconstructed broken glass trees, then nothing is the correct answer. Everyone knew very well that when it came to work, Nikaidou would shred you like paper if you messed up. With Nikaidou's good relationship with the browny-red head, the other staff wondered if this would hold true with her. My guess is that they would find out in a matter of seconds.

"Yuiki-san...?" she starts again. You can really hear the guilt in her voice, it seemed she _really_ didn't want to have to scare the girl more. But, a job is a job and she was professional enough to do hers– "Yuiki-san. Nikaidou-san is on the phone, and it is for you."

Simultaneously Kukai's and Yaya's grip tighten on one another. The team only found out about the broken trees at 8 o clock when everyone had to be at work to help with the unloading and placing the trees and he was already calling? It wasn't even past 11am yet - though it would be in around 5 minutes. That guy wasn't kidding when he said he would know if the set wasn't done by today. How? Who knows, though Kukai did have some theories, ones that include drugging and the installation of mini video cameras that allows the demon who put them there to see what everyone else in the room see through the millions of TV's in his hotel room. Kukai shivered as he wondered if Nikaidou switches the videos off every time someone does something like take a bath. He did _NOT _want Nikaidou to see him naked! Or Yaya at that-! Kukai's thoughts falter, deciding he should not to delve too much into his theories. He'd save these thoughts for another time.

Back to the panic and chaos, the other staff that sat on the other end of the room could probably get a foot massage from the way Yaya's body was shaking. Kukai on the other hand was lucky enough that his proximity to Yaya made him viable for a full body massage - and he would have been glad for one too had it not been at the expense of his best friends mental wellbeing.

Kukai was fully prepared to take the phone call for his friend, but before the transaction could be made, Yaya decided to 'woman up' and taken the cellular device in her cold, yet strangely very sweaty, hand. She whispered a thank you, though both Kukai and Amanda knew very well there was no sincerity in her gratitude. Who would thank someone for bring them to their death?

Yaya shifted and squirmed out of Kukai's lap, but took a seat by his side, she couldn't bring herself to part from him. When she refused to let go of his hand as well, she enforced the fact she needed support. When she looked at him with eyes wide with fear, he just had to give her a grin. He was in no mood for one, but Yaya needed it. He gave her a thumbs up too, and with that she brought the phone up to her ear – it was clutched tightly between her two wavering hands and one of Kukai's. She still hadn't let go of his hand you see. It was uncomfortable for him but he'd deal.

His hand slightly tickled when he felt a vibration from the voice on the other side of the line. The conversation had begun.

"Yaya." It was cold and emotionless, so much Yaya cringed. She's heard him use this voice before but never on her. Man did she feel sorry for everyone who had been in this position before her. She could now simply say she's felt their pain. Though he spoke her name, she still hadn't answered, and when he called her a second time his tone was much more noticeably more annoyed.

"Yaya." He was getting veeery impatient now and Yaya knew if she left him hanging one more time his hate-rate for her would be at its peak.

"Yuu-t-"

"Don't bull shit me, kid. Tell me what happened?" Though he said this to her, her mouth refused to budge. It was like the time when she ate superglue. She was four at that time and her parents had found her eyes bawling with tears but not loud cries and shrieks to accompany it, which they found weird because Yaya was also a noisy one whenever she cried, when she was upset she'd had no problems voicing it. It was then they found the tube of superglue next to her and try gently opening her mouth that they had realised what she had done. Needless to say she was terrified especially as she was quickly rushed to hospital. Though circumstances are different, she was absolutely terrified this time as well and she feared she'd be going to hospital for a whole different reason. She spent to long recalling her memory that she didn't realise she had left him waiting for an answer for almost 4 minutes –"For fucks sake intern, TELL me what happened!" –he was not happy.

"I-I… the trees! The movers…It's…It's just... mess! Broken! …I…I'm soooooo sorry! I'm sor-"

You know when you're talking and just about to cry your voice goes a strained and constricted and stuff? Yeah, that was happening to Yaya right now, but guess who didn't care at all.

"WHY HAVEN'T YOU FIXED IT THEN?!" If you guessed Nikaidou Yuu then you are correct sir/ma'am.

At his shouts Yaya couldn't hold it in no more and the flood gates opened. Kukai wanted to smoosh her into his chest but he knew if he did that Yaya wouldn't be able to speak properly and she'd be given more shit. All he did was grip the hand his was attached to tighter which was not hard to do considering how pissed he was at the moment, he was actually finding it much harder to supress the strength of his clutch – he did not want to bruise, or worse break, her hand at this point in time or ever. Unfortunately for him, Kukai was close enough to Yaya he could hear whenever Nikaidou was shouting. So when he heard the wretched man's voice, Kukai in fact knew Nikaidou was shouting at Yaya. He did not like that at all. But what was Kukai going to do? Fly over to him and kick his ass? Kukai needed money for that; money that came from the person he wanted to kill's wallet. So he did nothing as she sobbed and spoke; spobbed.

"I-I *hiccup*, I don't know what I should do!"

"Do not _fuck _with _me_, Intern. You don't know what to do? Do the fucking job I gave you, Intern instead of shitting around having a _pity party_ while I suffer because you are incapable of growing up and doing your job! You are not a child anymore and you do not need to suck on your mother breast to live! Grow up brat! Stop with the water works and grow breast of your own!" That's it, Kukai could take any more of the pricks shit. He snatched the phone from Yaya who was too shocked to even cry anymore and closed off her ears by wrapping his arm around her and forcing her to his chest. One ear was pressed to his chest while the other was covered by the hand on the arm around her. Her hand still stuck in the formation it was when she was holding the phone, two hands clutching air and thrice as violent.

Kukai roughly shoved her hands down from their position sick of the fact she wasn't even in the right of mind to know she didn't even have the phone anymore and placed the phone by his ear. He opened his mouth ready to give Nikaidou a piece of his mind but Nikaidou beat him to it.

"Shit face, put Yaya back on the phone." Momentarily surprised but quickly recovering Kukai spoke.

"Hell no! Who the fuck do you think you are, you dipshit?!" Kukai gained the attention of everyone with his shouting but he as hell didn't care, he didn't even notice.

"Fucking boy, put MY INTERN on the pho-"

"No!"

"Do not forget who the hell you asked for a favour from and who is paying you're fucking rent, brat!"

"You _still_ cannot talk to her like that-"

"I will talk to her in any way I want. I am her employer and I am the one who is teaching her. She want to be an interior designer? Well she better man the fuck up." Kukai tried really hard to get in what he had to say, "You think it's easy becoming a successful interior designer? This industry will chew you up and spit you out only to tear off all your limbs and feed you to sharks with no hesitation if you cannot do your shit right! The same implies to your little princess too." But he just could get any of his words in, "You think you're protecting her? Son, you are only leading her to failure. I AM THE ONE WHO'S PROTECTING HER! Three quarters of the people in this industry would've kicked her out the moment she said she didn't know what to do!" Kukai was so caught up in Nikaidou Yuu's rage he didn't know when to begin his own, "So FUCK YOU brat. . . . ." Now here was Kukai's chance. Nikaidou had stopped talking and Kukai was ready!

"Yuu-tan. I'm here."

Kukai was absolutely flabbergasted! Just as he was about to rant off Yaya snapped awake and taken the phone. She got off of Kukai and walking away, heading for the hall and heading for privacy. Kukai just couldn't believe it. He hadn't expected in five million years for Yaya to snap out of reverie in such a small amount of space. It usually took hours and the promise of something sweet to do the trick, but seeing her walk away now… he didn't understand. She had even glared at him before she took the phone. Glare? At him? If anything is should be directed at Nikaidou! Kukai didn't understand.

"Seems like Nikaidou-san's words did exactly what he wanted them to do." It was Amanda's voice Kukai found out. Though she wasn't actually looking at Kukai but rather in the direction of Yaya who had walked out, Kukai knew it was directed at him.

"What do you mean?" His question led her to look at him as he gave her answer. She told him about how Nikaidou Yuu had an Intern before Yaya and how she was his first, Yaya his second. She told him she'd had been working at Anzu at that time too and how she was very similar to Yaya. Both sweet, kind people with strong ambitions in the industry, though the first hadn't wanted to design a candy store, she wanted a toy store. Kukai knew it was true. He knew that though Yaya got distracted very easily with dancing and friends and all that her dream to become an interior designer and to design the perfect candy store was strong (even though at first when he heard about her dream for the first time he though she was just being childish and wanted to have a free pass to eat as many sweets as she wants) he had come to realise the true reason behind her dream. She wanted to give the same happiness she felt as a child to others. It was an admirable dream and it was then Kukai had vowed to support her all the way, so when Keiko Amanda questioned Yaya's ability to succeed in the industry he flipped.

"Of course she'll be able to do it! You've seen the set! It's amazing! If the movers hadn't messed up the tree's she'd be telling everyone where to place them so that the set looked ten times more amazing!"

"Souma-kun, I have no questions about Yuiki-san's designs and her artistic sense. She's just too kind. The world see the fashion industry like… a drop out subject in school. Lets put it in this way, in school you have different subjects; Mathematics, Physics, Art, Business. Which one is the easiest?"

"For sure, Art."

"May I ask why Souma-kun?"

"Physics, Maths and the rest, they all have set answers, you don't get those answers right then you're screwed. Art on the other hand is easy. Just do what you want to do, if people like it you pass. Done."

"I see, if one were to achieve a diploma in art, what jobs would they get?"

"Artist, Fashion Designer, Interior designer. You know jobs like these. Work in the fashion industry"

"So do you think those jobs are easy?"

"I sure don't think they're hard compared to being a doctor or engineer, that's for sure."

"You see Souma-kun, people see art as the dropout subject. If you are no good at Mathematics or History, or the Sciences you take art because it's easy and any fool can do it. Right Souma-kun?"

"Doesn't sound far off what I think."

She giggled before continuing.

It's the same outside of school, with the Fashion Industry that is. The world perceives it in the same way. So, those who do those jobs you mentioned are basically everyone who works in the Fashion Industry. Since they are all art-related, they must be fools too, no? After all 'Art is easy' and all you have to do is 'do what you want to do' as you said. It is a dropout job, like Art is a dropout subject for those incapable of doing maths and such. Yes?"

"Well, putting it in that way is a bit harsh… but yeah, that's the gist of it."

"Souma-kun, when designing a room or house or a stage for a photo shoot, but you must know about the length of the area you are working with. You must also know whether all the furniture or props or other items will fit in the space given. That is Maths. When working with glass, light is easily distorted and refracts into several different beams going in different directions, this could mess up the aesthetics of a room and it a particularly challenging to deal with in photo shoots where lighting easily affects a camera and how pictures turn out. That is Physics. Lastly, advertisements – Businesses rely on good adverts to reel in customers. Good adverts need to be pleasing to eyes of those watching and seeing it. Businesses look to people like us to create the foundation of their adverts, much like for the shoot tomorrow, you think if we staged in an alley next to some dumpster our clients would be happy? The job of an interior designer does not just require you to be able to put two pieces of furniture together that don't look horrible together, it involves a lot more than that and if you do not know how to fit everything you need into a space without it being crowded, or if you are unable to determine how you should fix your lighting and if you are unable to sell not only your clients products but also your own service so they do not run off to your competitors, then you will surely fail. "

"Damn…" it was all he could say. Kukai had never looked at it in that way. He never realised just how much work it took to put a room or a set together. He looked over at the set they had been creating for the past few days and he remembered the night before when the moon had been shining down on the set. He remembered how the light look and all the beams that had been created and how the glass gazebo glowed in the light and how whatever refraction that occurred had in no way ruined the set or shone too brightly that it took attention away from the set itself. Nikaidou and the whole team really thought it out well, even Yaya who decided where what would go. Speaking of which… considering her job this week what did Amanda's lecture have anything to do with Yaya not being successful? If anything doesn't the set she made just prove she can do all that stuff? So he voiced that out to the woman.

"Once again Souma-kun, I have no doubt she is a wonderful designer. My point was that this Industry is much harder than it seems. It is not a job you can take lightly."

"I get that, but why does that mean Yaya won't be successful?"

"She's too kind. The Fashion world is brutal and underhanded practices go on in this industry. Magazines are always looking for gossips and rumours about celebrities, right? So much that is there are none they make up their own posing it as the truth just to sell more copies at the expensive of another's dignity. The same applies to businesses. You heard about the Sanlu Group in China a few years back right?"

"The ones with the baby power milk?"

"Right. Bad publicity can be disastrous for a business. In this Industry, companies are more ten times more aggressive in their attempts at making their competitors looking bad. For all we know one of our competitors could have been the cause of our tree situation right now."

"What? How is that even possible?"

"Paying off the movers, maybe evening owning the transport company, It's not uncommon that a modelling company buys a transport company, it ensure important items get to them on time because they can set it as their priority – it's unfair for their other consumers that should have received their packages first but that's just part of their game. "

"That's some cheap tricks then if ever your competitors do that, purposely sabotaging the other. That isn't right."

"But it happens Souma-kun, and I'm not quite sure if Yuiki-san can-"

"If she can handle it?"

Amanda gave the slight notion of a nod and lightly smiles, though she's not really happy or anything. It's more like trying to be polite smile because I may have offended you by talking about your friend kind of smile – if those even exist.

"No offence Souma-kun. She is a sweet girl, really she is. I just hope she isn't too kind and I certainly hope she isn't a gullible as she seems. Otherwise, she won't make it where she wants to go, especially if she is unable recover from this tree deal. Nikaidou-san may be a little..-"

"Bitchy?"

"Umm… yes, that. However, it helps him stay alive and it he helps this company stay alive. His attitude made him what he is now. People like his first Intern on the other hand-"

"Keiko-san" Both Kukai and Amanda turned to the new voice that interjected their conversation. It was Yaya and she was standing up straight with Amanda's cell phone in hand. All traces of tears were gone and instead a stern look was in her brown eyes, "Thank you for letting my use your phone, and sorry for the inconvenience." Amanda smiled, not at Yaya thanks or her bow of gratitude but rather the vigour in her eyes. She gave a slight nod again this time at Yaya to show she acknowledged her thanks and took her phone replacing it in her blazer's inner pocket.

"No problem, Supervisor-san."

It was Yaya who gave a smile this time and Kukai was thankful it was real. It may not have been one of her usual heartfelt grins, but it was somewhere on the road to there, and for now that was good enough.

"Keiko-san, give me until 3pm. Tell the rest to take a break until that time and not to enter the room unless it is an emergency. I need time to think of something and I don't want people coming in and out and in and out. Come back after 3. If I don't make it by then… well it'll be goodbye and I will leave it with you."

"Is this Nikaidou-san words?"

"It is."

"Well then I'll give you your four hours then. I suppose I should think of something too in the meantime. Though I hope the job will not come onto me. Good luck Yuiki-san. I'll tell the others."

"I hope so too, really. Thank you again Keiko-san, Oh and Kukai, going or staying?"

"Staying of course" Yaya looks up to him as he says this and all of a sudden greets him with her heart-warming smile, that was more like it. Recovery completed.

"Gooood, who else is gonna do my heavy lifting." She giggles before going off to inspect the trees and set and says her Amanda. When Kukai saw Amanda walk away he quickly cups the side of his mouth hiding it from the direction Yaya walked to.

"What happened to the first Intern?"

Amanda gave a giggle, though it was slightly daunting.

"She was just too kind. Good luck. I hope Yuiki-san doesn't fall in the same way." With that she went off to relay the message she was told.

Kukai frowned slightly.

"Kuuuukai?!" At least Yaya was back to normal.

* * *

Half of Yaya's time had already passed and she still had nothing. Kukai was sat on one of the chairs to the side as he watched Yaya sitting on the floor papers spread on the floor around her; they were the papers Nikaidou had given her regarding their clients clothing business and Nikaidou's designs. Along with the information sheets Yaya had extra papers in front of her and a pencil in hand. She had drawn the main set on each paper including the tables and chairs as well as the gazebo. There were two different drawings, one bird eye view and the other a side profile, each had numerous copies. Yaya was tapping her pencil on the paper, struggling to come up with any decent designs.

"Why can we just do the shoot with just the set we have now? It looked good last night."

"Because it's incomplete."

"So? It didn't look it, I'm sure the clients wouldn't notice"

"But I can't be satisfied with half-butted efforts. I know it's incomplete, you know it's incomplete and the rest of the group know it is. I want to be proud of what I did and giving up won't give me that."

"Hmmm…" He hadn't anything to say after that so he let Yaya work, but man was Kukai bored. Sitting there for two hour watching her was taking its toll on him and he could just be still no more. He moved to Yaya even if he bothered her.

"Why don't you look at the business plan again? Like get to know what kind of image they want their business to portray or what kind of style of clothes they sell. Maybe it'll give you an idea."

"I already know all that. I memorised it last night. They are a high end new clothes shop. Their style is classy though they want to incorporate some magical fairy tale sort of feeling to it. Target market is young women to women in their mid-30's and blah blah blah blah blah."

"Do they have any past major advertisements? Anything you can use to get a feel of them from? It's best to go with something that fits their image."

"Searched up on it before, this is their first actually. The most they have are a few catalogues of their clothes and all that's done is reinforce my idea of what their style is like."

"Maybe you can draw inspiration from an outfit you liked?"

"Mmm… thought about it. Decided it's to narrow-minded. This shoot is not about one piece of clothing it's giving a message.

"Hehh…I give. Two hours and we accomplished nothing." He stretches his hunched back and straightens it out and he lands it on the floor, lying down with arms and legs stretched like a starfish. "Two hours, nothing to show for it. What we gonna do?"

"Aaaactually, I haven't _been doing nothing_ you know." She mimics him and lays on her own back besides him, her phone in hand and a page from the internet displayed on the screen read to show him. "I've also been researching more about Conte De Fées from their website. It's actually a partnership between a Japanese and a French."

"French huh…? Guess that explains the name."

"Mmm. Their biographies are on the page too."

"What biographies?"

"Oh how they became business partners and why they made their business. Apparently the Japanese was a married woman, and for the first year she was happy. They were well off they bought this really nice two story house that had like five bedrooms and even had a garden and stuff, always had enough to eat and used to go out to eat once every week. But then she found out that her husband actually borrowed all that money to fund all that stuff to impress her and he had managed to get them into these massive debts – you know, like the stories we hear all the time on the news? Only, the sick thing is that he started selling her off to the people he owed money in order to pay his debts off."

"What the fu- What kind of man does that? Come on, she must've ran away?"

"She didn't actually. She stayed."

"WHAT?"

"He convinced her that it would only be until they paid off debts, after that he'd find a better paying job so they could still live in their house now and be together. She calls herself stupid here for believing him"

"What you mean? What happened?"

"After, instead of selling her off to pay his creditors he started selling her off just to earn cash. Apparently being a pimp was his '_better paying job'_"

"Oh God, no way…"

"Yes way. She'd have at least seven clients a week, you know one per day. It went on for about two more years-"

"What?! Two years? She dealt with it for _two whole_ years? What excuse does she have for not running away _now_?"

"He locked her up."

"Oh…'

"Yeah. Luckily, halfway in between year 3 she got lucky. One of her clients was actually a cop going undercover for situations just like hers. Her husband - igh, I don't even want to call him that – got caught was sent to jail. Apparently he had been doing this with his _other three wives. _Gross right…?"

"That's an understatement… what she do after then…?"

"One of really early clientsshowed up again, I think he was one of the first people she was sold to after paying off the debts. At first she was terrified 'cause she thought he was gonna take her and force her to do the whole shebang again."

"Who wouldn't? Almost three years of being a prostitute because of your husband? Who would trust any man, especially one she was forced to sleep with."

"Yeah but that wasn't the reason he was there. The time he slept with her he was really, really drunk. He actually had a wife he really loved, so much he even told her he had slept with another woman. Apparently he and his wife had been trying to get into contact with the woman over the past two years to try and get her away but her psycho husband found out and wouldn't allow it. So, when he was sent to jail they took the chance. Quite nice, right?"

"Mmmm. Anyway… what happened?"

"She lived with them for a while, she was still quite young, 24 says here… so that means she was married when she was like 21 or 22. The couple who took her in were in like mid-30's. She was still pretty distrustful and she had developed trauma, but the guy who was luckily a psychologist knew how to handle it. First, they let her get used to them and once she was he instructed his wife to teach her a hobby that would have therapeutic effects. So they taught her sewing. Also once she was comfortable with them they started bring her with them for errands like shopping and stuff so she got used to other people too. Eventually, with their support and her sewing and stuff she got better, enough to leave their house and find her own. She continued to take up sewing and took lessons in this school. It then developed her interest and she started creating her own clothes. She also met the French in this school. They were like the best in their class and they hit it off well, so much they decided to go into business together. Started off really small too, they really came a long way."

With that the story of 'The Japanese' was done, leaving…

"And what of the French one? What's her story? Why she here in Japan?"

"For her, it started off in France. She was like 18 years old and she was working at this café somewhere. She was orphaned when she was like 12 was had been living in this rundown orphanage until she was kicked out as she was no longer considered a minor. Though she got this job in a nice café her pay was really bad compared to other people basically because she was so desperate for money she was work for anything. The owner knew this so he really ripped her off. Sooo, one day this rich Japanese guy who was on holiday shows up in the café and she waits on him. It's really cool too cause he can speak French. They talked a bit, had a nice conversation and she found out a bit about him. He was staying in France for a week for some business meeting thing and he was staying in the area. At the end when he left he gave her this maaaaassive tip and she was ecstatic."

"Oh thank God it's a happy story."

"It gets better! So he kept coming by every day and sat in the same spot just to make sure she'd be the one serving him, ain't that so cute? And each and every time he'd give her a massive tip. The last day before he left he asked her to come with him to Japan. Man it's like the romance you read in manga!"

"What she say? What she say?" Kukai was getting into it just as much as Yaya

"Yes, of course!"

"Niice"

"So he brought her over and she got to be in business class and eat expensive food and drink expensive wine and stuff. He bought her this pent house with this really nice view in Tokyo and he would always take her out to these really, really, really expensive restaurants and – Oh…"

"Oh…? What oh? Oh no… don't tell me? It gets bad doesn't it? Rapist? Murderer? In debt? Which one?"

"Neither. He wasn't a bad guy or anything, he was really nice guy."

"Then…?"

"He was already married."

"What? How's he a nice guy then!"

"It was an arranged marriage. His father was the owner of this business that was going bankrupt and so he married off his son to the daughter of the owner of this big time multimillionaire company. It was easy considering how incredibly attractive he was."

"So? He's still a douche bag."

"But he loved the French woman! He always stayed with her rather than his wife. He loved heer."

"If he loved her then he should've divorced his wife and married her instead!"

"But then he'd crush his father's company!"

"You're a career over love kind of girl then?"

"No! Never! But he made a deal and a real man honours his words! I dunno… whatever. Anyway, the woman he was married to turned out to be this overly jealous woman and well… she found out. Since she was rich and had all the power 'cause her dad's company she basically tortured her husband's _courtesan _as she referred her as. She would get her goons to… well you know, rape her and stuff… threatening her and trying to get her to stop seeing her husband. But she wouldn't, especially since every time the crazy woman did something to her the dude would stay with her weeks on end taking care of her, feigning week long business proposals. They tried running away at some point to other towns and each time they were found they moved somewhere else. The longest they got undisturbed was a year when they were to some isolated house in the country, and though they had a good year together eventually psycho wife found them. It got like proper horror movie, starting with the cutting off the power and the crazy phone calls. May sound funny but thinking about that is actually really scary stuff… They tried calling the police but psycho wife cut off the landline. Though they managed to call through mobile phone since they were out in the country it took too long and psycho wife had already gone all '_If I can't have him, no one can!' _on them. She then… stabbed him…a couple dozen of times. Though French was prepared to be killed too… she wasn't. Psycho wife said that if she killed her, she'd only be with him in heaven, so she committed suicide claiming she was going to be with him in heaven first. Before French-y could kill herself police arrived… great timing… she was brought to mental institute and the story goes on from there… long story short, she ended up in the sewing school also for therapeutic reasons. When she met the other one there, only then did she truly start to become better. Now here they are."

"That's some story to put on a website…"

"It has a maturity filter… don't worry"

They were both silent for a while, soaking in the new information. Suddenly, Yaya's problems with Nikaidou Yuu seemed so small, and she hated herself for being so upset earlier that day.

"They're really strong, aren't they Kukai?"

"Yeah… no kidding," a moment of silence later, "You know…I never thought that there could be such sick people in the world. It's… It's really horrible, you know?"

"But… they are also amazing people too, like them."

"True…"

"Says here, their mission is to bring hope to people who face horrible situations like themselves; they want to show people that even though shit happens, good things can come in the end, like in fairy tales. Shit happened to them though now they are happy and healthy and own a new business. They want to show others they can be strong to and recover, and they reflect it in their clothi- Oh my God! I got it!"

Quick as lightening she was out from his line of sight in a flash. No longer was she on the floor resting but instead rummaging around on the floor picking up her incomplete sketches. She runs over to a chair and furiously gnaws the pencil at the paper, all before Kukai can pick himself off from the ground.

"Yaya…? Yaya, everything alright?" She quickly shushes him and goes back to her drawing.

'_Must've had a brainstorm…Hehhh, that's a relief.'_

No longer worried about her, he returns to his prior position ready to finally relax, but up in a flash Yaya jumps over him to get to the set, a piece of paper in hand as she uses her hands to create a makeshift camera, focusing on certain areas and letting her imagination roam free.

Once again sitting up (which had resulted in an epic head rush for him) Kukai stayed up watching her. "Kukai!" her head snap in his direction hands and 'camera' still in place and grins mischievously.

"Get the jack hammer."

He grins back.

He salutes

"Yes, Ma'am!

And she still had two hour left.

* * *

_**Took longer than usual but here it is.**_

_**A biiiiig thanks to ya'll that reviewed, followed and favourited! (THANK YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE)**_

_**If I make too many mistakes please tell me and I'll do my best to proof read better, and if there are things you wanna see less of, or more of please feel free to tell me too. If you don't get anything and want me to clarify can ask too.**_

_**Please R&R  
Hope you enjoyed **_

_**-It's Still A Secret**_


	5. Chapter 5

After her plight of inspiration, things were finally going Yaya's way. With a hammer in hand and her side-kick holding her tools of mass destruction the rearrangement of the set had gone a way no one had expected it to, and imagine their surprise when the clock struck three.

The room was a little worse for wear than the state they had left it in, and a little is an understatement. The girl and her assistant were currently on a rampage and by the girls action Amanda, currently leading the team back inside, could only conclude that the stress had driven her way past the brink of insanity. The way she was frolicking about swinging the hammer (which Amanda notes she finds difficult to even hold for a minute) gleefully laughing as another tree is crushed beneath its pressure.

Oh God they were all screwed.

"YUIKI-SAN!"

"Oh? Is it three o'clock already? Hahaha, time sure flies fast when you're smashing up some trees!"

Trying to regain her composure Amanda clears her through, controlling her voice level.

"I'm sorry if I'm being rude Yuiki-san, but just _what_ are you doing?" she just couldn't keep her annoyance from slipping in that one word. Yaya completely understood that she probably looked like some crazy maniac child so she couldn't fault the older woman – after all, I'd be absolutely terrified if I walked into a room and some young woman was skipping through a storm of chipped glass with a massive hammer at hand, seemingly to enjoy swinging it and causing destruction. I would've sent her to the mental hospital. (Lies I'd actually want to try it, but in the case of the story I'll pretend I don't)

"Why Keiko-san, I completing my new design" The smile on the girls face made it seem like what she was doing was in every bit her intention and made her seem so confident with what she was doing, Amanda found it difficult to further question the girl. However, she knew she wouldn't be doing her job if she did that.

"What are your motives Yuiki-san? Why destroy the trees?"

And so Yaya explained her concept to all those who questioned it… which was everyone of course, but by the end of it Amanda was astonished. Her 'new concept' had mirrored Nikaidou's own. Nikaidou's original designs had incorporated the message of the founders of Conte De Fées, the whole 'even though shit happens you can still pull through and be happy in the end.' However, as this was a test for the young girl, he had given her shallow designs, only portraying the beautiful and happy side of the stories – hence the perfectly sculpted glass designs. He did this so when his purposely create obstacle came and hit his intern in the face, he wanted to see what she could do. Amanda knowing all of this was stunned. Yaya's representation was different, but the idea was the same. Amanda gave a secret smile.

'He chose a good one this time. He'll be pleased'

"What do you need us to do Yuiki-san?"

"Pick your weapon, and follow my lead."

* * *

By 6pm they were done and retired to their homes. Amanda had given her secret report to the awaiting man in Hokkaido, and notified him that everything had been pulled together in time.

All the waited was the shoot itself the next day. Needless to say, our red brunette heroine did not get much sleep that night.

It would be the day the of the shoot, and it had been arranged that the founders would inspect Yaya's set. Knowing their backgrounds and everything they had been through, there was nothing more Yaya wanted than to impress them and give them something they would be happy with. They were Yaya's inspiration for the set, and she did not want to be the one to capture their story wrong and disrespect them.

Thoughts like these plagued her mind throughout the night and it had taken too long for the morning to show itself through her windows. By 5am she had gotten out of bed and showered, making sure she was cleaned up well as would be appropriate for Mitsu Tami and Aurore Victoire. She wanted to make an impression.

After her shower she had just sat at her kitchen table drinking water waiting for the small hand of the clock to point at the number six by which she could leave her house, and when it did she ran out the door.

She planned to take the bus but now she contemplated running, it would probably help her beat the morning traffic, but both of those idea were shot down when Kukai beeped at her from within his car and though she wondered why he was there she did not question it, though so much for beating morning traffic.

"Kukaii, isn't there a less busy road? You should of just not picked me uup…"

"Stop whining, if I hadn't I bet you would've ran there or something"

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"You would've taken the main road cause its faster. I told you Yaya, you _can't _walk on the main road! There isn't even any pedestrian crossings."

"You know I would've managed."

"You're crazy"

"No you are"

"No you are"

"No YOU are"

No you are"

"No YOU A-Oh thank God we're here"

"Yaya! Wait for me to stop the car!"

But her body was already half way out of it

"Thank Kukai! See you inside!"

And she ran to her baby. As soon as the security guard gave her the key to the downstairs studio Yaya smashed open the doors, soaking in the sight. The team had really done a number on the set, but it was looking more beautiful than ever.

The gazebo and everything under had stayed the same, it was the salvation in the destruction, the light in the dark. The tree's that should have been surrounding it tall and fair were non-existent, and instead what laid there was a mess, but an organised one. An intentional one. No tree had been left as their perfect selves, instead, they were all made to be flawed. Each tree was unique. Some were chiselled so they were whole but had inside rivers of cracks, we made to lose parts whether it was branches or the whole head of the tree. Most tree had been shed of the glass leaves – though those weren't broken in case they would be used for other projects – and there were a select few that had been altogether pounded at its foundation to create jagged stumps. It was a dangerous job and at some point everyone had been made to wear eye protection and body suits to prevent harm. For the one tree that had started it all, the one tree that had been so smashed up that it hadn't even been a tree at all, this tree that looked like little crystals, was spread around the floor of the set, decorating the footpath. When the moon would rise later this evening, it would give the footpath a sparkle, an illuminating glow showing you the way through the dark forest to brightness of the gazebo. It was perfect, using what created the darkness and turning it around and letting it guide you and bring you to the light where you find happiness.

Yaya could never be more pleased with the results. She couldn't wait until the photo shoot.

Only 12 more hours to go.

Yeap, 12 hours and counting.

Shit, why did she come so early?

"Let's find some way to kill time, no Yaya?" She hadn't even noticed Kukai coming into the studio, smile dazzling as always.

Thank God someone was there to keep her company for 12 hours.

"Yeah, buy me some ice-cream" starting to walk away now.

"Sur- WAIT WHAT?"

"Thaaanks, Kukai" she giggled, twirling in a circle around him, pirouetting, "love ya sweetie." She cupped her hands to form a heart at him before twirling toward the hall where the elevator would be.

* * *

_**13 hours later**_

13 hour later everything was coming together. The set was… set, the models were in makeup and the photographer were checking the lighting, worried the light of the moonlight would not be enough. They were taking trial shot to find the best angles. Everything was all fine and dandy except for the panicking girl in the corner, waiting for the two founders of Conte De Fées to show up.

"Yaya, stop gnawing off your nails, you sound like a lawn mower"

"Oww, Kukai don't hit me"

"Then stop it"

"Souma-kun, Yuiki-san could you quieten down?"

"Ohh? Souma-kun is it? Keiko-san, since when have two gotten so close as to address him with kun instead of san, hmmmmmm? My, how interesting."

"Surely not as interesting as you think. Please do not create false information in your head Yuiki-san"

"Hey Kukai, did you make a move on her?"

"Who, me? I woul-"

"Oh my goodness! They're here they're actually here!" With the appearance of a dark haired Japanese beauty and her blonde foreign associate it was no question that the one and only Mitsu Tami and Aurore Victoire had entered the room.

Though Kukai was excited to meet the very women who's pasts were the very definition or tragic, he could not help but wonder why it was always him that was cut off by Yaya. He sighed, how demeaning!

"You're obviously not very well respected."

"Shut up, Keiko-san."

"What, not Keiko-chan?"

" " he smiled anyway.

By the end of their conversation Yaya had already gleefully introduced herself to her new role models, as she should as the designer of the set, and waited for the judgment. In the end they were immensely impressed claiming it captured the very essence of Conte De Fées and that they were very pleased. Though they're past, they were very friendly people and Yaya immediately got along with them – there were very few people she didn't. The rest of the evening had gone by very quickly and soon enough the photographers had gotten everything that was needed for create the advertisement for Conte De Fées new store. Soon enough the models and the photography team had left, leaving Yaya and her crew for clean up. It was a difficult taking picking up the bits of glass, and though they had added to the experience of the shoot they were incredibly troublesome. The fact no one had harmed themselves on it was a miracle – thank goodness modern day people wear shoes. Nevertheless by 9 it was all packed and cleared and everyone was on their way home.

As always, Kukai gave Yaya a ride to her house. They hardly saw each other after Yaya ran off to meet the two women, Kukai said in the background, doing jobs where he could help, while Yaya socialised. Kukai could help but feel he needed to get paid more than Yaya, the slacker.

When he had parked he stopped Yaya before she had gotten out.

"You have 5 minutes to change."

"Change?"

"Yeah, change your clothes."

She was very confused now.

"Uhh… why?"

"What you mean why? Come on, we're going on a date!"

"Whaaaaaatttttt?"

* * *

_**MESSAGE TO ALL**_

_**I feel like I've rushed this story waaaaay to much, like waaay to much. So much that I contemplated starting again, but I decided against it for now and instead I'm gonna start slowing things down from now on- well except I just dished out the whole date thing xD Oh well.**_

_**But yeah I gonna try slow down and have a few chapter to give everyone a better image of like the other people working with Nikaidou and Yaya and stuff. And maybe slowly bring in Yaya's old friends. So kinda like starting a new arc in a manga! I hope the whole set description were alright though, tell me what you think of the set Yaya created! If it sounded craaaap or really pretty or gorgeous or ugly or dangerous xD or whatever!**_

_**Thanks for reading!**_

_**OH and I'm in exams right now (and dying with overload of maths) so I will be slowish. Sorry ^^a**_

_**It's Still A Secret**_


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